Chris Gibbs on Advancing American Rare Earths’ Halleck Creek and Building a U.S. REE Supply Chain

[Music] today I'm speaking with Chris Gibb who is the CEO of of American Rare Earth and uh Chris you have it's my understanding that you've had this job before is that correct correct I was uh yeah the the CEO of America RS from 2021 through to about this time last year and then stepped off took a a role on the board as a non-executive director and you now have me back Jack okay uh let me ask you this can you bring us up to date for the current status of the project in Wyoming sure not a problem Jack look uh as you know we've got this outstanding project in Wyoming the H Creek project and this project has been getting developed for a a short while here and we have a resource on this project of 2.34 billion tons and just recently we completed a round of drilling which is all around defining the resource in what we call the cowboy state mine area and the reason why we're focused on this area called the cowboy state mine area Jack is that it's a it's a portion of the deposit U which is on state lands and this this enables us with a a fast track through to permitting for this project and so we completed the drilling here we've got State funding from the Wyoming government for uh essentially matching funding for this project so great government support the project is close by great infrastructure and if we're rapidly advancing this project to yeah focus on producing not just from the mining side but to producing a metal product that's that's our vision so at the moment um we came out with a scoping study earlier in the year and right now the reason for this round of drilling is to support an upcoming PFS for the project so if if you're planning to produce Rare Earth metal for example that means you you have a you have already got have a process scheme worked out that you're going to use to produce the separated Rare Earth oxides necessary to make the metal is that correct you you you've done that one at the moment Jack what we've been focusing on is the first stage of the verification process and the in terms of you we've been doing the lab test work as well in terms of producing through to a metal um I've been across this spectrum in the past Jack um having you been in in the game before um and you built built mines and run Metals facilities and so you the real value ad here is not just producing a concentrate and it's producing all the way through to an oxide and we've got the people we've got the the technology and yeah it's you taking it from a concentrate through yeah and and right now the process we're using is really solvent extraction um it uh yeah it bodess well so yeah we're excited in terms of what this means but it is to go across that spectrum because that's the opportunity Jack just producing the concentrate and shipping that off to China or Estonia is not the way forward we need to be producing a a metal here for the folks in the United States and to that's that that's the plan I admit that personally I haven't been in Wyoming since 1967 all right but uh when I was there I didn't notice a large infrastructure for processing rare Earths or making rare earth metals so are are it sounds to me like you're planning to do this in the United States the processing that's correct Jack and the the plan is to do it in the state of Wyoming okay we have outstanding support from the state of Wyoming and yeah if you take you where the H Creek project is it's about 2 and a half hours you north of Denver just outside of a town called laramy and also Wheatland and yeah it's yeah close by well essentially bitchman roads run straight past this we've got a high voltage KV lines running straight past the property um in the town of Wheatland you've got a a large power station and our plans are to actually be building the you refin locally to within that industry and close by all that infrastructure so it's yeah couldn't be a better location what's the time assuming everything works out what's your timeline for for deliverables that are payables okay in terms of the timeline Jack as you know there's a number of variables that you go through that timeline um I've you one of the biggest variables there you particularly in the United States is around permitting and you know one of the things we've already started is our environmental Baseline monitoring and our preparations for our state permit and the timeline we've been given on that permitting is you know less than two years and that's that has already started so it yeah when I say hope it's our plan to actually have that permitting in hand well before that 2 years so the per will not be the critical path here the critical path uh is really around um completing the engineering from the like I said we've got this pref feasibility study which our plan is to complete that in the first half of this next coming year and then from there we'll be rolling in through to the various you again completing the engineering putting in place a pilot facility and then getting the relevant funding to then build this so in terms of a timeline Jack um I'm not gonna put out an exact timeline but I can tell you that from my previous experience uh where I you was building a mine in Ontario taking it through that process yeah it is a you around a 3 to five year process to really go from you where we're really at today through to to this and that's not that goes very quickly and that's that's the sort of timeline I'd be anticip ating that we yeah would be working towards Chris this this sounds to me like you've done it before have you look in terms of uh yeah what I've done before Jack is I've done a lot of different things I don't mean where Earth I mean have you developed mines before I've developed mines before and in North America and that's from taking from essentially concept and the most recent one was you we're involved with Aral gold um from from concept taking that through all the way through to construction and a mining team on site I yeah I I did leave at the back end to come and join American Rare Earths um but from a you bring it through commissioning and online it was involved with the mount Milligan project up in British Columbia and I've also run Metals refinery in Pittsburgh ja um producing Metal Products where we were producing you a variety of Metal Products even renum we' put in place a renum processing facility and we're selling renum into the market along with your Metal Products mum related Metal Products and pure products as well not 99.95% I have to tell you that if you've been in renum processing uh all of the experts I know of in that area could fit in a phone boof with plenty of room left over for a grand piano so I'm I'm very impressed I did not know that about your background you want to talk about it I'll be the first to say Jack I'm not the technical guy that was you built that ranium plant but uh no no I understand that I'm familiar with that ranium plant so I'm I'm quite impressed uh okay so now um let's talk about you know the unpleasant part how are you doing on financing look on financing right now our financing we've got the non-diluted government funding from the state of Wyoming and that's over 7 million us and the way that funding works is every dollar we spend essentially we get back 50 cents in the dollar and so that's more than sufficient for where we're at for this stage of the pro project um in addition to that we've got uh you you know some cash in the bank and then other investments from a cash perspective around 14 million and so we've got a good financial position um the you know the reason we've you created Wyoming rare USA Inc is as a wholly owned subsidiary is that we recognize that to move this project forward we do need to partner you with somebody or bring in a strategic invest um you we we recognize where we're at we've got a great project and but you it it will require us to have that strategic investor or you know JV partner to to move it forward um but at the same time running con currently with that Jack we are you you looking at the various opportunities from a you even a federal funding perspective and I'm sure as well we'll have further State support this project Jack and there's no other project like this it's the largest Rare Earth Project for neodymium prmium in the heart of the United States it's in a great mining jurisdiction the state of Wyoming who needs yet state of Wyoming needs industry and they they're very supportive of what we're doing and so yeah I'm sure there's going to be more funding and this is a a critical mineral for the United States and so yeah that that's our focus and yeah the financing We Believe will come but we've got to obviously do the work as well to to prove out the project there as you know there's only one producing weth mine in the Americas right now okay and all the output of that mine is sold to the Chinese so basically the United States has no domestic source of rare earth and I don't know who's going to be first to actually be a domestic supplier but to be honest with you unless you know something I don't I don't know anybody who's at your even at your stage of development so I have to wish you very good luck and I the reason I'm less talkative than usual is because your background is extremely expensive and pertinent uh and I don't know too many CEOs of mining companies who've ever built a mine that I mean I do know one or two but I believe that's about 98% of those in the United States okay and uh I'm adding you to my list okay and I I wish no I'm sure I I wish you the best of luck uh you're a very impressive guy let's hope that you could make this a very impressive project we're going to stay tuned and I'm going to call you back every so often to find out what you're up to because I'm wondering what you're really up to thank you Chris we appreciate it hey thank you Jack I appreciate you too take you